Travelling from Shkodra to Permet
Wednesday 16th September
We decided to lash out and pay Jon (our original Albanian driver who picked us up from Tirane airport) to drive us from Shkoder to Permet, otherwise we would have needed to catch 3 different buses, and we may not have made the entire trip in one day.
We put our clothes in to the hotel to get washed yesterday afternoon (5€) but, there was a little mishap with the washing, Patrick's clothes were eventually found this morning, washed, but not dried! We packed them up wet and hopefully we'll be able to dry them when we arrive in Permet.
Our last delicious, relaxing breakfast at Hotel Tradita.
We left about 9:30 am, after withdrawing some more Leke at Shkodra.
Jon was chatting in the car and said that the Komani ferry has stopped operating from yesterday due to the low lake water levels, it's a man made lake and there are a couple of old villages that were covered under the water when the dam was created, and now it's too dangerous for the ferry to run in case it hits some of the ruins. Lucky we went up the Komani Lake a few days ago!
Chatting about the cost of living and finances, apparently it's more expensive to fly into Tirane as the airport is leased by a German company that charges a lot for refuelling and travelling through the airspace.
Getting close to Permet.
Arrived Permet, at Hotel Alvero 2:45 pm. Great driving Jon! The last 25 km was along some rougher rural roads. Almost 6 hours driving, the majority along a fairly new (about 4 yrs old) motorway..
35 deg outside on arrival! Dry heat, so not too bad. Patrick's wet washing dried quickly! Way hotter here than I was expecting for Autumn and mid September!
The hotel Alvero is new, clean and modern, very different to our last hotel! It overlooks the river Vjosa and the village square.
Late lunch at Restaurant Antigonea, opposite hotel Alvero, it was very good!
Farmers salad, dolmass and Pilaf for lunch.
Sparkling water 70 leke
Tirane beer 500ml 200 leke
Farmers salad- tomatoes, peppers, cucumber, onions, olives, cheese 300 leke
Dollma- stuffed vine leaves with rice and local herbs 200 leke
Rice Pilaf with ,kime' minced meat, local herbs, tomatoes sauce 200 leke.
Once the sun started to go down we walked up to "the Rock" just near Permet. There was a watchtower up there years ago, now just the remains of some rock walls.
Beautiful bulbs flowering.
View of Permet and Vjose River from the top of the rock.
Looking away from Permet, olive groves, grape vines and crops.
We met with Cimi, our guide for our Permet - Zagoria trek this evening at the hotel to finalise plans for the trek starting tomorrow. Endrit, from Zbulo was also there, great to meet them both and get organised. We've arranged to leave one bag here at the hotel so there is less weight, Patrick has volunteered to carry a big pack, so I will just have my day pack and water. Lucky me! We'll meet at 7 am for breakfast and depart for the starting point of the trek at 7:30 am
The Vjosë river forms a canyon called the Kelcyra Gorge
There is a local Slow Food movement here -Gliko is a specialist preserve created locally http://www.fondazioneslowfood.com/en/slow-food-presidia/permet-gliko/
Leaving Hotel Tradita, Shkoder 9 am
100€ transport in car for both of us
Accommodation:
Hotel Alvero
30 € with breakfast
Piazza Abdyl Frashëri, Përmet - Albania
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